Heavenly
by Kagetsuya
Summary: With the rescue of a taboo child, the Sanzo-ikkou unwittingly find themselves in the middle of a deadly foreign conflict.
1. Prologue

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Heavenly  
Author: Kagetsuya  
**Fandom:** Gensomaden Saiyuki  
**Pairing(s):** You'd like to know, wouldn't you?  
**Rating:** PG13, for some language and violence  
**Warnings:** shounen-ai, implied het, some citrus, some Japanese, tense changes, TWT ("Timeline? What timeline?")  
**Archive:** FFN, Yume no Kage. Anywhere else, just ask.  
**Writing Conventions:** * * * = scene change; _emphasis/in-text translations_, 'thoughts', "speech"  
**Disclaimer:** Only my dear, lovely Celestine and everything connected belong to me. Gensomaden Saiyuki and all its characters belongs to Kazuya Minekura, Enix, etc.  
**Summary:** A child of taboo, twin youkai, and a violet-eyed swordmaster. What's the ikkou gotten into now? **Notes:** a) I know the summary sucks. Live with it. _I_ have to. =D b) Yes, there are / is a pairing[s]. Just not gonna list it/them. All the romantic stuff takes a backseat to the adventure, to the story itself. So if you're filtering fics by pairings involved in them, sorry. However, if you really want to know, you can e-mail me with a good reason why I should tell you. *nikoniko*  
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**Prologue**

There were fires. The city was swallowed up in the great, dancing flames, which were licking upwards, ever higher into the night sky. Every few moments, there was a crash as another structure succumbed totally, roofs caving in when the wooden frames burned up. The blaze spread quickly, aided by the wind and the closeness of the buildings, eating through everything in its path.

There was screaming. Cries of terror, footsteps, people hurrying away, tugging their families, the scant few belongings they managed to grab, behind them, trying to get as far away as possible in the least amount of time. Cries of anguish, of those who had loved ones too late to save, of children who realized that they had left a toy, a pet, a favorite blanket behind. Cries of hysteria, those who could not move for fear they were already dead.

There was death. The sound of metal ringing against metal, thunking against wood. There was the sickening, soft, slicing sound of metal cutting through flesh. The defenders were hopeful and uselessly valiant. The attackers were fierce and arrogantly triumphant. Those who were neither merely ran, between walls of flame, over the fallen who were now only fuel for the conflagration, away. That was the one goal. Away. From the fires, from the screaming, from the death.

High above, tall spires rose, witness to the catastrophe. They were silent, dark but for the orange of the fire reflecting against the stone. These towers, ancient beyond memory, had another story imprinted into their walls, a story they would keep far beyond the death of the very stones they were constructed of. The fire did not reach this citadel. The outer walls were too thick that the screaming was muffled. Empty, the castle was, but for death and lingering grief.

The throne was made of the finest gold and glittered with more than a hundred jewels. It sat upon a great dais, amid a room filled with great tapestries depicting various battle scenes, pillars with tendrils of vines made of silver winding up them, sconces made of gold. In the center of the high back was a crest, two swords crossed within the embrace of a crown of vines, set against the backdrop of feathered wings. Around this crest were magnificent designs, more vines, finely detailed feathers, geometric patterns, runes. There, too, were the precious stones, diamonds, sapphires, rubies, emeralds, all flickering in the dying torchlight. From the chair's back stretched a huge pair of feathered wings, also created from gold, detailed down to the very wingtips. It was a beautiful sight, a show of great wealth and great power.

At least, until the darkness fell completely and no one would be able to tell the difference between it and a simple, wooden barstool.

Sitting upon this throne was a figure whose deep ocean-colored eyes could no longer see the extravagance around him. He sat there, as if surveying the vast hall before him. He sat there, arms at the rests on either side of him, every inch of him regal. He sat there, still, unblinking, the trail of blood that had trickled down his chin long dried up.

Betrayal.

Chaos.

These two were fast friends, skipping around hand-in-hand.

While behind them, a kingdom crumbled to dust.


	2. Chapter 1

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Disclaimer: Only my dear, lovely Celestine and everything connected belong to me. Gensomaden Saiyuki and all its characters belong to Kazuya Minekura, Enix, etc.  
**Japanese:** youkai-demon; harisen-paper fan; Sanzo-ikkou-Sanzo party/group (stuck to '-ikkou' because the translation sounds weird (to me, anyway)); kappa-water demon (technically doesn't need to be noted, as they are entered as 'kappa's in all mythology sources I have seen, but I put it here anyway)  
_(all other headers found with prologue)  
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**

Heavenly  
by Kagetsuya

**

Chapter 1

It was another typical day for the Sanzo-ikkou. The sun was climbing higher into the sky as it neared noon, its heat and light somewhat lessened by the occasional cloud that passed it. The familiar rumbling of the jeep was heard only as a light purr, its four occupants long used to the sound. Of course, it might have been that the scenery was far better for paying attention to, with rolling hills, snowcapped mountains to the far north, the rare stream or river that meandered close to the road -- though 'road' wasn't the best word for the sole beaten track that marked the land -- before veering off again after some distance. However, it was more likely the fact that the argument at the back of the jeep was loud enough to drown out most other noise.

"I said don't _call_ me that!"

"Hey, I only call it as I see it, monkey."

"Yeah? Then why the denial about being a hydrophobic kappa who can't keep it in his pants and a girl in his bed?"

"My, where'd you get your language, brat?"

"Having to listen to _you_ all day, _cockroach_!"

"Can't you--"

_BANG!_

They had half-risen, despite the occasional jolting movement of the jeep due to some sizable rocks they drove over, glaring at each other, fists raised. The single gunshot cut right in the center of the space between them and they leapt -- loosely speaking, of course -- back to their respective sides, one glaring and the other frowning indignantly at the one who had pulled the trigger.

"Oi, what the hell do you think you're doing?!" clashed with "Mou, Sanzo, what was that for?"

A vein twitched on the blonde man's forehead. "I distinctly remember telling you idiots to shut up ten minutes ago. I _hate_ to repeat myself."

This was met with silence, the two getting his message. With a low growl, Sanzo sat back down properly in his seat. He didn't bother stowing his gun. Goku and Gojyo would start up again sometime and he would have use for it again.

'Ch'. What a waste of bullets.'

Yes, he decided, it was just another typical day. Now all they needed was for some youkai to ambush them and it would be complete. Not only that, but there was a good chance the two idiots would shut up and concentrate on the fight. Unless, of course, they were competing at who could defeat the most of their opponents. But, as Hakkai pointed out, goading each other seemed to work for them as a sort of backwards encouragement. They seemed to live off the competition and that, besides skill and experience, was what made them the fighters they were.

"Sanzo..."

Turning and holding the gun an inch from Goku's face was nothing more than reflex. "I hear the words 'I'm hungry' and you're dead."

Golden eyes blinked at the barrel of the Smith and Wesson, then rose to meet his. "I wasn't going to!"

Sanzo raised a disbelieving eyebrow while Gojyo laughed and added, "Not this time, anyway."

This prompted the youth to turn back around and glare at the half-youkai. "Why don't you just shut your hole, ya damn kappa?"

"You wanna get your ass kicked so early in the day, monkey?"

"We'll see who gets his ass kicked! Right here, right now!"

"Will the two of you shut the hell up?!" Once more, Sanzo separated the two by firing a shot in between them.

A chuckled issued from the brunette beside him. "Ah, I guess all is right with the world."

The monk growled at him, to which the only response was a grin. That, more than anything, managed to diffuse the whole situation. Perhaps it was because he was right. If Goku wasn't whining about food or Gojyo wasn't goading the youth, the world would probably fall apart. Or some horrible, inane expression like that, Sanzo mused with an inward grimace. At the very least, it would have to be looked into if the two idiots had been poisoned or if they had caught some sort of disease. For that matter, if _he_ managed something impossible like ignoring or -- heaven forbid -- tolerating them, he'd be hauled off and tucked into bed, fussed over in case he had a fever or some sort of clot was cutting off the circulation to his brain.

That last thought he snorted at, earning him a curious glance from Hakkai.

Ah, Hakkai. One of the last bits of sanity he had to hold on to. If he hadn't been around to balance Gojyo's and Goku's mayhem, the mission would probably have been shot to hell -- literally. Although, one had to wonder about the brunette's sanity once in a while. Past incidents aside, he _was_ on this journey west with them. No one, Sanzo was sure, would agree to such an undergoing, not while in their right mind. Maybe if they were bored enough...

"Mou, Sanzo, why do I have to sit back here?"

"What'sa matter, ape? Finally admitting you're scared of me?"

"Fuck off!"

"Hey, find me a hot chick and I'll gladly do so."

"San--"

"Because Hakkai has to drive and I don't sit with stupid, whiny brats _or_ stupid, nymphomaniac kappas."

Sanzo emphasized his words with several blows of his harisen. Really, it was probably a little more effective than the gun, as with the paper fan, he could physically get his point across. Of course, in the long run, it was as useful as the Smith and Wesson -- which meant not at all -- but this way he didn't have to waste ammunition on shutting the two blockheads up.

"Na, Hakkai..."

The monk glared at Goku. "Don't bother him, idiot."

"Something the matter, Goku?"

"How far's the next town, huh? My butt's hurting from sitting so long and I'm hungry."

The brunette was the physical embodiment of patience. After the many months the four of them had spent on this journey west, he still could not understand how in the world Hakkai stood the bickering, the whining, the teasing, and all the rest. Oh, he'd always gotten blithe remarks when he asked, like "They're not too hard to ignore." or "I guess they've been doing it for so long, I don't even notice them anymore.", but he did not for one second believe that that was it. If he didn't know any better, he could swear that Hakkai derived some amusement from the idiots' antics.

As it was, Hakkai only gave one of his gentle smiles and said, "We're getting pretty close now. Maybe a couple of hours. You think you can live until then?"

Goku huffed. "Yeah, sure."

A snicker from the backseat. "I'd like to see that."

"That's it! You're dead!"

_BANG!_

"......"

"......"

"And without turning around! Bravo, Sanzo!"

"Hakkai."

"Yes?"

"Shut up and drive."

* * *

"Sanzo..."

Two and a half hours later found them entering hilly country. The road wound around some and ran directly over others. It was clear they were reaching a settled area. Crops planted in neat rows filled the flatter parts of the land. Once or twice, they had seen a herd of sheep grazing on some far off hill, sheep hounds barking in excitement and shepherds gazing in curiosity as the four strangers passed by them. Even if the Sanzo-ikkou had seen no one in a while, they knew the town was close.

Violet eyes gave Goku a sideways glance, telling him to get whatever he had to say over with quickly. It was no surprise that the exorcising gun did not accompany the gaze in acknowledgement. There was... well, something -- some feeling of foreboding. The scenery had not changed much, farms getting more numerous and much closer together, indicating that they were getting nearer to their destination, and that was it. However, contrary to what their surroundings indicated, it seemed to get quieter, emptier. It was such an absurd feeling, but that did not change facts.

The banter had died down some time before. The hackle-raising feeling had just gotten too strong to ignore. Not that it was strange that they saw no one, for in the heat of midday, they surely would have gone inside. But logic told them that that was no cause for their instincts to start waving red flags in their faces, and so all attention was focused on the world around them.

"It smells weird," Goku muttered, sniffing the air. "Like... um... like smoke! Like something's been burned."

It was green as far as the eye could see. No fire, no smoke. Not even any evidence that any incident had happened. Nothing but the emptiness of the hills. But Goku could not be discredited so easily; his youkai sense of smell was much too powerful for that.

"The town is up ahead somewhere," Hakkai said, a little unnecessarily. "Maybe there was an accident of some sort."

He didn't bother to sound as if he believed what he said. It was just something to say, a useless ward against what they were all sure was true. Their instincts had yet to lead them wrong. The whole think stank of foul play. But it was, after all, what was to be expected. From the start of their journey, there had been attack after attack, whether by subtlety or a head-on strike. This was no different from the rest of their days on the road. The only thing that managed to surprise them nowadays was the time of attack. Always, they were on their toes. Always, they would be ready. This time would be no different.

But just because something could be expected, it didn't mean that one could not be caught off guard.

The town, which they came upon not a few minutes later, was a walled one. The barriers soared high, obscuring all but the tallest of the buildings from view, made of solid granite. No doubt the doors, made of a heavy, dark wood, could be well barricaded when shut. It was formidable protection, against bandits, against murderers.

'And against youkai,' Sanzo added to the list. 'Or so they like to think.'

There was no sign of physical breach in the walls. There were no broken areas, no piles of rubble. The gates had not been broken through.

In fact, the gates stood wide open.

"Shit."

One of Gojyo's eloquent summations of a situation.

"I smell blood," voiced Goku as they got out of the jeep. "Lots of it."

Hakkuryu transformed to his dragon form and assumed his usual perch on Hakkai's shoulder with a warning, "Kyuu..."

As if the atmosphere itself did not already indicate danger. There were scorch marks on the rough stone of the buildings, parts of some roofs caved in when the fire ate through them. Along the sides of the streets were the remnants of carts, sheds, and other wooden structures, crushed or burned, faint gray wisps still rising from some of the blackened piles. The smell of blood was noticeable, but barely; a lot of it had been spilled here, if they could sense it without seeing the source, Goku no doubt picking up the scent more than the other three.

"Split up," Sanzo ordered softly. "Hakkai and I will go left. You two go right. We'll meet at the town square."

"Aw, with the monkey?"

"Hey!"

"Because," Sanzo said through gritted teeth, finger twitching on the trigger of his gun, "if either of you come with me, you raise your risk of dying."

Gojyo and Goku looked at Hakkai, who only shrugged and gave one of his patent smiles designed to placate. "He's the boss-man, you two."

It was sufficient enough to halt any further complaints. The two met each other's eyes, glared, then turned and began to stalk off.

"Besides," the monk added as they were leaving, "if there's anyone here, they'll be drawn to your stupid bickering. If they're survivors, question them. If they're not..." He gave a shrug of his own. "You can take care of them, can't you?"

The half-youkai let out a laugh. "Sure, we'll give you two as much make-out time as you want," he called back.

Luckily for Gojyo, he was already turning a corner when he finished speaking. Sanzo glared at the spot the red-haired youkai was occupying earlier, then turned to Hakkai and gestured for him to start walking. The brunette, still smiling, said nothing and obeyed.

* * *

"Ne, Gojyo?"

"What?"

"Do you really think there's something going on with Hakkai and Sanzo?"

Blood-colored eyes peered at the youth, who had genuine confusion and curiosity on his face, before Gojyo let out a laugh. "What, you believed what I said back there?"

"No. Was just wondering."

Gojyo grinned. "Kid, that monk's a fucking ice cube. I don't think _anybody_ can get in his pants. Hell, I don't think anyone with the _intent_ of getting into his pants can come within ten feet of the guy without getting their heads blasted off." He paused. "What's'a matter with you, anyway? Why are you interested in my insults all of a sudden?"

Goku shrugged. "First time I heard you say something like that, that's all."

"Hey, sometimes a guy needs new material. I'm not a one-trick monkey, after all."

The youth turned around and growled. "Who're you callin' a monkey?"

Innocently: "No one, no one. It's just a saying."

"Bullshit. The phrase is 'one-trick pony.'"

"My bad, then."

"Asshole."

"Little shit."

They fell silent after that, content to wander the empty streets of the town. Gojyo wondered if perhaps all their arguments would end in such a way if Sanzo had patience enough that he wouldn't shoot at them or hit them with his harisen before their antagonism ran its course. And if they weren't so bored out of their minds on the ride from town to town. He looked at the golden-eyed youth beside him. No, perhaps not. Arguing with the brat came as easily as breathing and was just as hard a habit to break. Maybe. He wouldn't die if he stopped bickering, after all. Would he?

Gojyo snorted, which drew his companion's gaze.

"What?"

"Just thinking, brat."

"You mean you can do that?"

"You wanna die that bad?"

"It's not me who's gonna die!"

"Oh? Wanna test those words?" Gojyo tapped the boy's head with the flat of his scythe. "Right now, kid."

"No."

This caught him by surprise. Goku, refusing?

"If someone's here, we'll be interrupted." Goku gave a cocky grin, one that showed his fangs. Wouldn't want you to get your ass kicked before I kick it."

"Kiss it, you mean."

"Oh, geez, that was so lame."

"Like that wasn't? Can't come up with any more insults, monkey?"

"No. The rest I know would be totally--"

Coming around a corner, they both stopped in their tracks. Unlike before, where traces of fire marred the walls, this time the walls were covered in blood. Bodies littered the street, though not enough to account for all the gore. Gojyo backed up around the corner, hand over his nose so he couldn't inhale the sickly-sweet smell that permeated the air. Goku followed suit. Too busy arguing, even he had not noticed the smell until they were on top of the carnage.

It had to have been several hours since those people had died. The smell told them as much. The blood and entrails that covered the walls and littered the street were not slick and glistening, but had dried from exposure to the wind and the sun. There had been a massacre here, that was painfully obvious, and more likely than not was this attack done by youkai. There were many bands of roving youkai. Most of those Gojyo and his companions encountered had allegiances with whomever it who was working behind Kougaiji and headed the revival process of the demon king Gyuu. But there were others, only mere stories heard in various towns they passed through, bandits and murderers preying upon humans. (1)

'So which one is it?'

"What now?" Goku asked no one in particular. "Think they're still here?"

A good question. If this was the work of some random group of youkai, then they were surely gone. It could point that way. Kill humans, raid towns: that was the sort of thing they'd heard of before, youkai exerting their self-proclaimed superiority over humans. They had a street full of dead bodies. There were all those signs of fires. All doors and most of the windows had been smashed through, some random items left on the streets where they were thrown.

When he thought about it, it seemed highly unlikely that this was the work of Kougaiji's minions. If humans were involved, it was usually when they were fighting whomever it was that was sent after them and the sutra Sanzo carried. There was also no reason for them to raid a town. Unless, of course, this was all a part of some elaborate plot to kill them.

'Pssh.' He didn't know what to laugh at first, the measures a foe would take to kill them or that said foe thought that said plans would work.

"No," Gojyo answered the other's question. "But, hey, we're on a roll. So we act as if they're still here and if I'm wrong, we kick their asses easy. Come on, let's keep going."

Goku shrugged and walked alongside him again. They both skirted the blood-covered street, trying not to breathe as much as possible. The next one was empty, as was the next, and the one after that. They wandered through the northern half of the town, skipping streets filled with dead, directionless. Once or twice, they entered one of the buildings to see what they could find. They came up with nothing, but didn't really expect to find anything anyway.

There was no one around. If there were any survivors, they would have fled and would not be coming back for a while, if at all. If there was someone waiting in ambush, then they were either smart enough to abandon their plans, stupid enough to go up against Hakkai and Sanzo, or nonexistent. Gojyo was betting on that last one. Call it instinct. He could not sense anyone around but Goku and, a faint tickling sense in the back of his mind, Hakkai. Sanzo, of course, gave off no such aura as youkai did, human that he was, but he was wherever Hakkai was at the moment.

His ears pricked at a startled gasp from Goku, who had walked ahead of him and had just stopped in his tracks as he turned another corner. Gojyo quickened the last few steps it took to catch up to the youth.

"What is it?"

Then he stopped in midstride, too.

There were exactly six bodies on this street. They lay not a few meters from where Gojyo stood, blood-covered swords scattered among them. They had fought, these six. If the weapons were not evidence enough, then there was also the manner in which they died. The townspeople Gojyo and Goku found had all been brutally slaughtered. Beheaded, dismembered, arteries cut so they bled to death, disemboweled. Not these corpses. They all had died cleaner deaths, either their necks cut or by the thrust of a blade through the heart.

The red-haired youkai was the first to move, going down the street towards the bodies, trying to inhale as little as possible. His companion was a second after him, walking silently a pace behind. Black feathers were littered on the ground. Gojyo's first thought was that the attack had disturbed some birds, but a few of them were too big for any birds he knew.

"Youkai," Goku murmured from behind him.

They had tattoos on their shoulders, a pair of crossed swords. Below each tattoo gleamed a silver armlet bearing the same design, except for the ring of vines that surrounded the swords at the point where they crossed. Power limiters, used to disguise their youkai form from the world's eyes and their youkai energy from those untrained to sense it. There was a beauty in devices such as these, that they could be worn as jewelry, allowing their bearers to walk undetected amongst humans. In fact, Gojyo would not have known what they were but for one thing.

Five of the youkai lay in a loose half-circle around the sixth, one of the two women of the group. She, too, possessed the crossed-swords tattoo and armlet. Except the armlet was on the ground amidst two of her companions. The elongated ears and sharpened nails that were the common features of all youkai were clearly visible. Gojyo was sure the large amount of black feathers that surrounded her was also a clue, many of them absurdly large.

So.

The six were youkai, who fought and died against enemies wielding swords. For the humans? No, Gojyo would not believe that. Not for any amount of convincing, not unless one of the warriors told him that was their purpose.

'And now you're thinking nonsense.'

"Ah--? What's that?"

The half-youkai looked up in time to see his companion disappear into the building behind the woman he was contemplating. With an irritated growl, he stalked in after the brat. What could Goku possibly be interested in that he would stay here any longer?

"Oi, kid, what did--"

"Sshhhh!"

"_What?_"

"There's something here."

So Gojyo listened for whatever it was, and soon enough, picked up a faint wailing. "Ugh, you idiot, it's probably just a damn cat. Come on, let's go already."

But Goku, being typical Goku, only ran to the end of the short hall they were in and went up the stairs. Gojyo was beginning to think getting killed by Sanzo was a better alternative than this. He followed Goku anyway, if only to drag him back downstairs and off to meet with the other half of their team. Knowing them, they had long made it to the town square. If they had found streets full of dead, too, they'd know that any survivors would have fled. If a foe was around, well, that was no problem that couldn't be taken care of.

"Shit, monkey, when this's over, you're gonna owe--"

"Uh, Gojyo?"

The youth was backing out of one of the rooms when Gojyo reached the second floor. The redhead tightened his grip on his weapon, even as he noticed the sounds he head earlier had gotten steadily louder.

'What the hell? That sounds like...'

Then he noticed Goku's expression. Perplexed, not guarded. Definitely not the expression he would have if there was an unfriendly party in the room. For that matter, the youth would have launched into a fight already, not stand there looking like an idiot. So Gojyo went to his side, with all the intent of asking what the hell was going on, but his companion only gestured at something in the room.

"That's definitely not a cat."

Gojyo could only stare. "Shit."

* * *

There was no wind.

That fact, like most things, could be taken as bad or good. Without it, they could not catch even a hint of the town's dead; it, and the fact that there were only a few bodies in isolated places, was why they had not noticed at all in the first place. Not that they hadn't expected what to find. An attack on the town was the only explanation for its emptiness when it should have been inhabited. And usually, that meant casualties.

On the other hand, no wind meant no relief from the sun's heat. Even standing within the doorway of one of the buildings around the town square didn't manage to help much. Of course, it wasn't the humid sort of heat that would have made everything hotter, stuffy. Hakkai glanced sideways at his companion, clad in all his monk's robes. Surely Sanzo was roasting, dressed like that, but he knew the blonde was not likely to admit it.

'As frigid as they come,' he remembered one of Gojyo's comments and had to smile. At this point, he might be ready to believe it.

"Ch', they're late," Sanzo muttered. "Typical."

"Do you think something happened with them?"

The blonde raised an eyebrow at him. "The town would have exploded by now."

Hakkai chuckled. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

But it was his job to worry, wasn't it? At least, openly. He had long learned to distinguish the subtle changes in his companions' attitudes, in the atmosphere each exuded around himself. Hakkai had learned to tell when they worried, when they were unhappy, even -- as rare an occurrence as it was -- when they were afraid. On the outside, they could be loud, brash, brave, even if they felt differently. One might even say they _had_ to act that way. But he was the one who smiled, who reassured, who worried.

Even when it was a farce.

"Sanzo!"

"Oh, there they are, right on time."

Sanzo snorted, then called out to the approaching Goku, "What the hell took you so long?"

The youth jogged up to them, an uneasy smile on his face. He didn't answer right away, biting his lip as if deciding what to say. That was unusual for him, but before either could question him, he had made up his mind.

"You guys, uh, won't believe what we found."

"A treasure trove of food and booze?" Sanzo deadpanned.

"Don't forget the beautiful women to serve it all," Hakkai added with a grin.

"No!" the boy protested, then added, "Though that woulda been nice. I'm starving."

The monk gave a long-suffering sigh. "_What_ did you find, Goku?"

"Oi! You stupid monkey. How dare you ditch me like that!"

"Er, hmm... The kappa can show you, himself."

Sanzo and Hakkai looked in the redhead's direction. Gojyo was walking at a pace that could be termed 'leisurely,' a cloth bundle cradled in his arms. That bundle, Hakkai presumed, was what the youth was talking about. The redhead seemed bewildered as he looked at it, as if he could not believe that whatever he was holding was real.

"Gojyo," Hakkai greeted. "What's this surprise for us Goku was just telling us about?"

The half-youkai looked as if he wanted to proffer the bundle in his arms to someone else, then settled for drawing back some of the cloth. "We, uh, we seem to have found a survivor."

A pair of eyes, red as blood, blinked sleepily up at two very surprised men.

"A baby," Sanzo stated, surprise showing only in the slight frown that marred his face.

Indeed it was, the child no more than a year old. But significant though this discovery was, that was not all there was to it. Along with the red eyes, the baby also possessed red hair.

"Born of taboo," Hakkai murmured.

Dismissing them as if they were unimportant, the baby turned away, choosing instead to bury his head against Gojyo's chest. And then several things happened at once. Gojyo blinked at the child in bewilderment, Sanzo raised an eyebrow, and Hakkai gave a soft smile. Goku chose to be verbal in his reaction, laughing aloud with a "Look! Gojyo's a mama now!" that sounded like he had been dying to say it for a long time.

Gojyo glared at the boy. However -- and Sanzo would probably call this judgment of the situation far out of character for the half-youkai -- that was all he did. No yelling, no cursing, no hitting. So when he turned back to Hakkai and Sanzo, the former gave him his usual guileless, misleading smile.

Alas, the monk beat him to what he wanted to say. "Hmph, would've gotten you a kid sooner if we knew it would shut you up."

"H-hey! You bastard of a monk! How dare you--"

'Hm. Guess we were wrong, then.' Hakkai did not know whether he was dismayed or amused.

"Gojyo, language," he said in a half-teasing, half-admonishing tone, then turned to Sanzo. "But this begs the question of what to do now."

The blonde nodded, as if he had thought the same thing. It was apparent that besides those people who fled the town during the attack, the baby was the only survivor. Given the severity of the incident, it was not likely that the rest of the townspeople would be back for a while. Leaving the child was obviously no option, but it was not as if there were any alternatives to choose from. They could backtrack to the farm holdings down the road, but none of them were certain how far they would have to go to find one that was still inhabited. The last person they had seen was at least a shepherd tending to his flock on a hill perhaps a half hour away, give or take a few minutes.

Sanzo frowned at the baby before shrugging. "Hakkai, where's the next town?"

"That would be right before we have to cross a forest." Hakkai called up the details of the map in his mind, quickly calculating the distance to their next stop and the time it would take them to get there. "Provided there are no distractions on the way, we should get there by midmorning tomorrow. Not too far, thank goodness, that our supplies don't run out."

"One more day before I can get more cigs?" Gojyo asked, not liking the answer at all. "I have to ration?"

"Technically, it's only half a day more, and you shouldn't be smoking at all around the little one, anyway." The red-haired youkai made a face at him. "Speaking of which, you three wouldn't happen to have any experience in babysitting, would you?"

After a moment of silence, Goku piped up with a simple, "Stuck in that cave."

"...Only with monkeysitting," Sanzo followed, prompting a protest from the youth.

"I have, uh..." Gojyo tilted his head back a little and to the left, indicating a worn, leather bag slung on his shoulders. "This. Stuff that was with the kid."

Which left Hakkai. He looked at his three companions, then at the baby. Who, he thought, was beginning to look just a little disgruntled. Which could mean an assortment of things, he knew, but only from the rare, casual observation of mothers with young children around towns they had visited before. And even then, 'casual' usually meant no more than a brief, curious glance. He _did_ have experience with children from years before, but that was as a teacher and certainly none of his charges had been younger than four or five years old.

'Oh, dear.'

To be fair, it was not as if they could have expected something like this. So far, this journey had only consisted of driving, the stopping occasionally at a town to purchase supplies and get some rest -- real rest, in real beds, which was a luxury they took advantage of as much as they could -- and fighting off whatever assassin had been sent after them and Sanzo's sutra. Caring for a child was one of the last things they ever thought they would do.

"Guess we're in for a crash course," he told his companions, his cheerfulness sincere; daunting as it seemed to be, he was still interested in the coming experience. "This should be interesting."

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1. Yes, part of the efforts to severely cut down on Japanese usage. Demon King Gyuu is what my subtitles called Gyuumaou, so he shall be referred to as that or as 'the demon king' Gyuu.  
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Notes: Hee. The image of the Sanzo-ikkou with a baby on their hands was too amusing to pass up. Before anyone asks, this town and the location mentioned in the prologue are different. The prologue should be explained in the coming chapters somewhere, hopefully in the near future. As for Hakkai's being a teacher, I'm pretty sure that's what was mentioned in the series. Erm... Lastly, don't hold your breath for the next part. School's keeping me busy next semester, but I'll try to get chapter 2 and hopefully 3 before summer rolls around. Anyway, thanks for reading! As always, comments and criticism are very welcome. ~K


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